1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connections and more specifically to high-density electrical connections in a vacuum environment.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
One of the most difficult challenges posed by a high resolution imaging equipment is management of very high-density electrical connections required to operate many optical sensors used for such applications. The high resolution imaging equipment typically comprises a large number of coordinated optical sensors, such as focal plane arrays, operating in a small area. Each of these optical sensors necessitates a plurality of electrical connections to supply power and transmit input and output data.
Traditional electrical connections require lengths of wire or other conductive materials, which run along a printed circuit board (PCB) and occupy valuable space. This inefficient usage of available space severely limits the number of electrical connections per area and consequently limits the performance of high resolution imaging systems.
Further, due to high equipment cost and changing data capture requirements, the imaging systems commonly require that the aforementioned optical sensors and other circuitry be easily changed or replaced through interconnect systems. Furthermore, these interconnect systems are required in order to segregate modular portions of the imaging systems during assembly and manufacturing processes. Traditional interconnect systems use interposer connectors. Unfortunately, these interconnect systems are most commonly made from plastics or other organics-containing materials, such as flame retardant 4 (FR4). In normal non-cryogenic operating conditions, typically, it is not difficult to provide any needed thermal cooling to these imaging systems. However, when these imaging systems are housed in a cryogenic operating condition, it becomes difficult to provide the needed thermal cooling, as the plastics and other organics used in the interconnect systems may absorb moisture and can outgas and are therefore, not suitable for use in the vacuum environment required for many imaging applications, such as infrared (IR) imaging.